You’ll see in many interviews that Sam Maloof credited an appearance of some of his early pieces in Better Homes & Gardens with giving his career a jumpstart.

Dave and I took a stroll across the building to our sister publication to see if we could track down a copy of that article. Sure enough—tucked away in a file cabinet we found the March 1951 edition of Better Homes & Gardens which contained an article titled “Handsome Furniture You Can Build” which features photos of Sam’s modest home furnished with simple pieces he built.

As the story goes, photographer Harry Baskerville was commissioned by Better Homes and Gardens to photograph a small home for an upcoming article about decorating on a budget, his sister, a friend of Maloof, recommended Sam’s home.

As it happened, Sam and his wife were the definition of budget. Sam’s fledgling furniture-making business was struggling and he was wondering how to make ends meet.

But BHG also asked Sam to draw up plans of the photographed furniture that would be simple enough for an amateur woodworker. The unexpected sum of $175 that he was paid for the plans proved to be a godsend at the time. You can learn more of Sam’s story in the book, The Furniture of Sam Maloof.